Soloing over 7#9 Chords

[MattWarnockGuitar]

Hey Everyone,
Just wanted to pass along my new Guitar World column where I go over a fun and easy way you can use two common arpeggios in combination to solo over 7#9 chords.

http://www.guitarworld.com/jazz-guitar-corner-using-common-sounds-solo-over-79-chords

Check it out, thanks!

 

[newb3fan]

Matt,
This looks like a very interesting and easy way to think about soloing over this chord, as opposed to the altered scale, which is much harder to get "used to" and "under your fingers" at least for this guy who is trying to get more jazz into his blues playing. Thank you!

 

[MattWarnockGuitar]

Thanks glad you dug the lesson, yeah it's just an alternative to the scale, gets you started on it and then you can progress into other options from there. Thanks for checking it out!

 

[JonR]

IMO, it's good to be aware of the two main uses of this chord:

1. As a V7 chord, usually in a minor key.
This is the usage that attracts the most interesting set of scales. The "7#9" symbol is usually shorthand for a chord that has an altered 5th as well. The most common scale used is the altered scale, but HW dim fits too (allowing perfect 5th).
The function of the chord is to resolve to the tonic, usually minor but sometimes major.

2. As a tonic in a blues. This is how Hendrix used it - and also how it was used sometimes in jazz before that, as in Kenny Burrell's "Chitlins Con Carne".
The chord has an implied perfect 5th in this case, and does not have a dominant function. (The I7 chord in blues does have a partial secondary dominant function when leading to the IV chord, but otherwise is just a tonic with added "colour"; that can include the #9 (b10) as well.)
The normal scale used on it would be simple blues scale; or perhaps a combination of major and minor pent (or mixolydian and dorian if you prefer to see it that way).

This is not to say that other scales are not possible. One is always free to use any notes one wants over any chord! It's just about "common practice" - standard usage.

 

[Seraphine]

The sound seems to always give me the impression of 'ending'... either of a tune or a statement. Interesting, the impressions certain sounds can render.. some ambiguous and others with more definition.

 

[splatt]

The sound seems to always give me the impression of 'ending'... either of a tune or a statement. Interesting, the impressions certain sounds can render.. some ambiguous and others with more definition.

¿huh..... really?

¿purple haze?
¿goodbye porkpie hat?
¿& etc etc etc etc etc?
¿!!!?

 

[Shiny McShine]

Wait!?! There's a major third and a minor third in the chord. Freakin' A I'm totally confused. Do I play major or minor here?

;-)

 

[JonR]

Wait!?! There's a major third and a minor third in the chord. Freakin' A I'm totally confused. Do I play major or minor here?

;-)

You play both: major 3rd below, minor 3rd (aka "#9") above - see shape below

If the chord is a tonic chord - ie "I" chord in the key, like the "Hendrix chord" - use blues scale, and you can bend the b3 if you want

Here's Kenny Burrell, using a Hendrix chord before Hendrix :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig5m92TwKKA
It's a blues in C, and on the C chords he's paying C7#9, in this voicing:

---------
-4-------- = #9 (b3)
-3-------- = b7
-2-------- = 3
(3)-------- = root (optional)
---------

(The other chords are F7 and G7)

The melody is entirely in C blues scale - as is his solo.
(SRV also did a version of this tune)


If the chord is a V chord (usually in jazz) - quite a different scenario - the "altered" scale has the #9 (#2) and major 3 together: 1 b2 #2 3 b5 #5 b7
So on an E7#9 chord (going to Am), the scale is E F G G# Bb C D. (Call the G# "Ab", and you have a mode of F melodic minor.)
There may be other options too (see previous posts...)

 

[Shiny McShine]

So that's where Hendrix stole Purple Haze from!